Little Wattlebirds are the first to wake and last to roost in our neighbourhood. Their unique range of calls are varied, loud and constant, with some of the stranger, harsh grating noises very unbirdlike. A Japanese visitor enquired about the strange noisy animals that woke him on his first morning in Australia. Upon being shown a Little Wattlebird in full voice he could not believe a bird, especially one that small, was responsible.
Rob was overwhelmed by the support when a call went out on our member newsletter.
There was an immediate response to help make a large number of bird boxes to support an order from a group wishing to enhance habitat in people’s gardens. We had more offers of time and talent than boxes pre-cut ready to assemble and paint.
The indigenous people of Melbourne identified six separate seasons of varying lengths: High Summer, Late Summer, Early Winter, Deep Winter, Pre-Spring and True Spring.
A great exercise for communities getting together to support our wildlife.
Depending on access to tools, spare parts and experience please allow two hours for this project.
Parts
Can be found for free or are available to most resourceful enthusiasts.
One possibly two fence palings. Recycled palings are fine: un-split, de-nailed, with no stains or paint at least on one side of each paling. Hardwood palings preferred, certainly not treated pine palings. 1 x Back plate - 650mm; 3 x 450mm (2 side walls and 1 front plate)
A recent article caught my attention in the Australasian Bat Society (ABS) Newsletter, Number 43, Late 2014 by Robert Bender, Stephen Griffiths and Lindy Lumsden titled Bats breeding in Melbourne roost boxes. The Batting4Bayside project in Bayside is busy making bat boxes and planning to monitor them as our local residents put the bat boxes up in their own gardens. The three species mentioned in the article have all been identified from Bayside too.
We have analysed a lot of Anabat data since our last update for the Batting4Bayside project. With the help of many of you, we have also collected a lot more data.
So far this project has collected over 12,000 data files for analysis, about one third of which has not yet been analysed. Of the two thirds that has been analysed, roughly 2,500 files contain recognisable bat calls.
One of the questions we had about our microbats relates to when they are most likely to be out and about.
One of the aims of the Batting4Bayside microbat project is to get some idea as to which species of bat may be found in which area of Bayside. We asked Anabat borrowers to use the Anabat's voice recording feature to record their location to enable us to match bat records with location.
We use donations to assist with purchasing materials for animal shelters (especially bat boxes), educational items, and survey equipment, as well as to cover costs of some events.
